Would it be possible to mod an Amiga, C64, or ST to be region-free?...

[ataridave]

So I watched with great interest a guy on Youtube who knows someone in the UK who mods consoles, like PS2s and Saturns, for example. Would it be possible to mod a classic computer, like a C64, Amiga, or ST to be region-free?

[FastRobPlus]

These are region-free by default. The actual issue with the 3 computers you mention is that they were made with the intent of outputting video using old television standards, and when developers made games, they designed them to fit either NTSC-spec or PAL-spec televisions. The takeaway is that part of the game might be cut off in some cases, and things like game speed might be a bit off.

For the C64 and Atari 8-bit, I'm not sure you can do anything about that.

For the Atari ST, I think you can pop a disk in that changes the computers output back and forth between the two standards, but this may be hit or miss, and most televisions and some Atari monitors from one region might have trouble or require vertical hold adjustment to lock in the other region.

Amiga is similar to Atari ST, but most Amiga users now have some kind of VGA upconverter (flickerfixer/scan doubler) that promotes video to a format compatible with VGA monitors.

[Nebulon]

If you upgrade the Amiga 500 or 2000 blitter from 512K to 1MB, it automatically runs both regions' software (as long as you have a 1084 monitor).

 

You'll need a free utility to tell it to switch between NTSC and PAL.

 

As for the Amiga 1200 and 4000, you can access the same mode switching by holding down both mouse buttons while booting. The 1942 monitor handles both modes for these machines.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Nebulon

[FastRobPlus]

If you upgrade the Amiga 500 or 2000 blitter from 512K to 1MB, it automatically runs both regions' software (as long as you have a 1084 monitor).

 

You'll need a free utility to tell it to switch between NTSC and PAL.

 

As for the Amiga 1200 and 4000, you can access the same mode switching by holding down both mouse buttons while booting. The 1942 monitor handles both modes for these machines.

 

The Agnes chip is the one you are referring to (which does indeed contain the blitter) Some 500/2000 systems are already good to go, but older ones actually need the chip swapped.

As with the Atari ST, some TVs and monitors won't handle the other region's settings. Symptoms include a rolling screen, or a stable screen but only in greyscale. You are right that all 1084/1942/1959/1960 monitors can do both PAN and NTSC with no issue. 1080s and 2002s usually also all work, but may need a more dial tuning.

I do think that as long as you are opening up the unit, it might be worth putting an FFVII or Indivision scan doubler board inside so you can output to a more modern monitor, but that's just my personal opinion. I know lots of folks who like CRTs better.